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If You Miss a Mortgage Payment, Can You Stop a Foreclosure?
Too many families and homeowners in the greater Detroit area fear losing their homes to foreclosure. If your home is at risk for foreclosure in or near Detroit, arrange at once to discuss your rights, options, and concerns with a Southfield bankruptcy attorney.
Most mortgages give a mortgage lender the authority to foreclose on a property when the payments aren’t made. In Michigan, lenders may begin a foreclosure after a mortgage payment has been past due for more than 120 days.
If you have lost your job, suffered a serious injury or illness, or fallen behind on your mortgage payments for another reason, you may ask: How can you stop a foreclosure? Can you stop it by filing for bankruptcy? How will an Oakland County bankruptcy lawyer help you?
How Does Foreclosure Work?
If you do not act to prevent foreclosure (for example, by filing for bankruptcy), the lender could sell your home and even take legal action to evict you.
Lenders in Michigan may foreclose in one of two ways. In a judicial foreclosure, the lender takes the borrower to court. In a foreclosure by advertisement, the lender schedules a sale and advertises the sale in a local newspaper.
Michigan’s foreclosure by advertisement law requires a lender to publish a Notice of Sale each week for four weeks in a newspaper in the county where the property is located. A notice must be posted on the property within fifteen days after the first Notice of Sale is published.
Michigan’s law also allows a six-month redemption period for homeowners whose homes are sold at foreclosure sales. This provides sufficient time for a homeowner to redeem the home, refinance it, and sell it in a short sale or find a new residence.
What is a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy?
A Southfield bankruptcy attorney can help you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy that protects your home and avoids foreclosure. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a plan to reorganize your debt. It allows you to catch up on missed mortgage payments and develop a plan to repay your debts.
Michigan’s bankruptcy laws provide a homestead exemption, which protects the equity in your home during the bankruptcy period. Under Michigan law, as of 2025, you may exempt up to $46,125 in home equity.
Filing a Chapter 13 bankruptcy is the one way to stop the foreclosure process instantly. Immediately after you file for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the court issues an automatic stay that means creditors, including mortgage lenders, must halt foreclosure and other collection efforts.
Bankruptcy has several serious consequences. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy usually stays on your credit report for seven years. You could lose most of your other assets. Bankruptcy is a last resort option, but for some Michigan homeowners and families, it may be their only practical choice.
How Does Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Work?
To qualify for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Michigan, a homeowner must have help from a Michigan bankruptcy attorney, a regular income source, and some disposable income. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy:
- combines your debts so that you make a single monthly payment
- lets you restructure your tax debt
- allows you to avoid foreclosure
- helps you manage your other debts
- usually takes three to five years
In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, a homeowner proposes to creditors a repayment plan that will last three to five years. That plan is based on the homeowner’s disposable income (as determined by a means test). The homeowner makes payments to a trustee who distributes the payments to creditors. When the bankruptcy is completed, any remaining dischargeable debt is discharged.
Can You Stay in Your Home During a Bankruptcy?
During a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you and your family may remain in your home so long as you continue to make regular payments to your mortgage lender (through your bankruptcy trustee), and you make all of your missed mortgage payments.
Mortgage payments must be made to the trustee on time (along with making up for missed payments). During the Chapter 13 bankruptcy period, the mortgage lender will have a lien on your property.
If you file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, take seriously the opportunity to get your finances in order. Ask an Oakland County bankruptcy lawyer to guide and advise you through the Chapter 13 bankruptcy process.
What if You Miss a Mortgage Payment During Bankruptcy?
If you miss any mortgage payments due to a brief pay disruption (a sickness or another brief loss of work) while in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, contact your lawyer as soon as possible. Your lawyer can ask the court to excuse those payments and explain how you will make the payments.
During a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, you must make your mortgage payments on time every month or contact your Detroit-area bankruptcy attorney as quickly as possible if you have to miss a payment.
Who Can Help You File for Bankruptcy and Avoid Foreclosure?
With so many bankruptcy exemptions, rules, and procedures, it can be easy to make mistakes that could place your home at risk. A knowledgeable Michigan bankruptcy lawyer at Sigal Law Firm can explain the bankruptcy laws that may apply to your own situation.
Our attorneys provide decades of experience to help clients secure a better financial future. Do not take lightly the choice to file for bankruptcy. If you have a better option than bankruptcy for keeping your home, Sigal Law Firm will find it and help you take that option.
Are You Facing Foreclosure?
Award-winning Michigan attorney Vadim Sigal founded Sigal Law Firm and leads our legal team. We advise and represent clients in Oakland County and throughout greater Detroit.
If you and your family are facing foreclosure, call Sigal Law Firm immediately – at 248-671-6794 – to arrange a free legal consultation with no obligation.
We are a Debt Relief Agency. We help people file for bankruptcy relief under the United States Bankruptcy Code. As one of the premier debt relief agencies, Sigal Law Firm is dedicated to helping individuals navigate bankruptcy and achieve financial relief.
